


Forget Me Not

by gay_thot_writing



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Anyways, F/F, Gen, Idol AU, Lila Rossi salt, Or More Like, and im gonna record it, band au, goes 'oh that wasnt healthy', have fun kiddos, i do write the music myself btw, it will be adr1en salt but not yet so not tagged, kinda mari salt but not really, she just looks at her past behavior and like, so go to the tumblrs to listen, uhhhhh idk, we love growth and development
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:21:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27061861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gay_thot_writing/pseuds/gay_thot_writing
Summary: When Marinette gets upset, she usually designs. What happens when, instead, she decides to write?Full of plenty of salt, this band au offers something for everyone... except the Adrien and Chloe stans. Sorry, babes, your rich white blondie isn't getting a redemption from me. Feel free to stick around, though, we'd love to have you.
Relationships: ......will be updated as the story continues but thats it for now, Juleka Couffaine & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Rose Lavillant
Comments: 5
Kudos: 69





	1. Prologue- Petals

Marinette was so tired. Lila had managed to turn everyone against her, had made sure that none of her friends would believe her. She couldn’t draw without someone breaking her pencil, couldn’t walk to the front of the classroom from her seat without someone tripping her. Her arms were bruised from her landing on them so often.

Chat Noir barely even bothered to show up to battles any more. He was always ‘busy’, always ‘showing her what it felt like’. She had learned to keep at least one other Miraculous on her at all times so she could grab a hero when she needed backup. She could hardly ever sleep anymore.

She was exhausted physically, yes, but she was more exhausted mentally.

And even Adrien, who knew about Lila, who knew she was a manipulative little liar, didn’t believe her. She’d finally told him what Lila had been doing to her, and he didn’t. Believe. Her.

Even Alya had stopped defending her. Now she simply glared at her and stood protectively in front of Lila each time she saw Marinette.

Marinette was sitting on her balcony, a pen and a notebook in hand and tears in her eyes. But for once, she wasn’t going to draw.

Instead, she began to write.

A week later, with the help of Jagged, she released a music video on a just-made Youtube channel.

The video began with her in an incredibly fluffy dress, layers and layers of tulle folding over each other like petals. She was on the ground in child’s pose, but, as the music faded in, she began to sit up ever so slowly.

She suddenly sat up the rest of the way, making eye contact with the camera. “Petals, from a stem,” she sang softly. Her voice was clear, if a little teary. Her face was hidden by a flower-petal mask.

“Not much more to it / Not much more to them,” she continued, rising to her feet gracefully.

She then turned to another camera and plucked a ‘petal’ of tulle from either side of her dress. Underneath them was silk as red as blood. “He loves me / He loves me not,” she sang as the tulle fluttered to the floor. She sank back to her knees.

“Who even cares? / At this point, I’ve stopped,” she sang before shaking her head firmly, standing up, and striding towards the camera. “Forget me not~” she continued, blowing a kiss to the camera before the view switched to another camera.

She began to spin, more ‘petals’ fluttering to the ground. “He loves me, he loves me / He loves me, he loves me not~” She sang the line three times, a petal falling off for each repetition of ‘he loves me’ or ‘he loves me not’.

“Well, forget him! Forget him! / Forget him! Forget me not!” With each line, she turned to look at a different camera before ending on the one right in front of her.

“Petals,” she sang, “from a stem.” She looked into the camera, falling backwards onto the floor as it followed her. “But she doesn’t think / that there’s more to them,” she continued.

“She hates me / she hates me not!” she sang, pulling off two more petals and resting them in the pile of discarded ones. The top third of her skirt was now bare, petals pulled off and red silk showing.

“All that meets the eye,” Marinette continued, beginning to sit up. “The rest can rot.” She stood and came face to face with the camera. “Forget me not~”

“She hates me, she hates me! / She hates me, she hates me not~” she sang three times. Petals scattered across the floor.

“Forget her, forget her! / Forget her, forget me not!”

She looked at the camera pleadingly. “And I don’t know / what I can say,” she sang, beginning to fall to her knees in the pile of petals. “To make you stop and just let me stay!” She yelled this last part, grabbing a fistful of tulle with either hand.

“My petals,” she sang, “and my stem.” She stood, still clutching a handful of petals in each hand. “Why would you care about me / why would you care about them?”

“Well, forget you! Forget you! / Forget you! Forget me not~” Marinette threw the handfuls of petals she had pulled, letting them shower down over her, as she sang this line the same way three times.

She turned to look at the camera intensely. “Forget you! Forget you! Forget you, FORGET ME NOT!” On this last line, she closed her eyes and jumped. The pile of petals fell around her, obscuring the image. When it cleared, she was standing in a field of flowers.

“Forgot my birthday, forgot my name! / Forgot my job, it’s all the same!” she sang, pulling the final petals off for every bit of her that was forgotten.

“Forgot my favorites, forgot that he / doesn’t care about her, nor does he care about me!” This last part was more yelled than sung, and petals were once more poured over the screen, bringing Marinette back to the white-and-grey plain studio.

“Oh, well. He loves me! He loves me! / He loves me! He loves me not~!” For each bit she sang, she took a step closer to the pile of petals in the center of the room. Her skirt was fully bare, red as blood and twice as lovely.

“She hates me! She hates me! / She hates me! She hates me not~” she continued. “Forget you, forget you! / Forget you, forget me not~”

She was just a few steps away now. “Then, forget him! Forget her! / Forget you! FORGET ME NOT!” she finished, jumping into the pile cannonball style.

As the final chords of the song rang out, petals fell across the screen.


	2. Chapter 1- Roots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some classmates react, some tell tales, and Marinette gets a surprise.

Marinette had released the song on a Friday. This meant she had two days of worrying, of not checking the news or her Youtube notifications. But she survived Saturday and Sunday, and finally, finally, Monday came.

As Marinette walked into school that day, she didn’t know what to expect. Had anyone seen the video? Did anyone recognize her? She hadn’t checked social media since uploading it and had turned off notifications because she was scared of the reaction her song would get, so she had no idea if anyone knew it was her. 

Whatever she had been expecting subconsciously, it wasn’t this.

Students lined the halls as usual, talking and putting away or taking out school stuff, but there was a nervous energy among them. They were all buzzing with some nervous excitement and Marinette wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.

Then she heard it. Around the corner from her locker, two students were huddled around a third student’s phone. The headphones plugged into the phone came unplugged and, throughout the locker room, a very familiar song started blasting.

“Forget you! Forget you! / Forget you! Forget me not~ / Forget you! Forget you! / Forget you! Forget me not~” her own voice sang from the phone.

The student hurried to plug the headphones back in, but not before others in the locker room began to sing along. Marinette heard the voices of more than half her classmates, humming and singing along. She even saw some begin to dance along. How quickly had they learned the choreography?

She shook her head and hurried to class.

That was that, then. They liked the song, they didn’t know it was her, she could rest easy.

Marinette walked into class just in time to hear Lila’s newest claim: “Oh, yeah, I totally know her! She wrote the song about her exes, I was by her side through all of it, it was totally tragic!”

Marinette rolled her eyes and walked up the stairs, taking her seat at the back. Lila continued to talk about how she was totally absolutely besties with the singer of Forget Me Not. She buried her head in her notebook, resolving to write her next song until class started.

As she wrote, she heard someone coming up the stairs. She pretended not to notice them, whoever they were, in case they were going to try and start shit. Instead, they paused and set a note on the corner of her desk before walking back down. She noticed the familiar nail polish and wondered what Juleka could want with her.

When she opened it, the note read: Meet me under the stairs at lunch. We need to talk.

Instantly, Marinette began to worry. What did that mean? Did Juleka know it was her? Did Juleka know Lila was lying? Or, worse, was Juleka in trouble? Did she need help, was it something about Rose or Anarka or Luka?

Class started, but Marinette was quietly worrying in her seat, unable to listen. She kept sending concerned glances over Juleka’s way, but the shy girl didn’t look back up at her.

Marinette was able to shake the worry to the midground of her mind, at least. Background was a foolish hope, but now she had room enough to halfheartedly listen and take notes during the lesson. School couldn’t go fast enough as the seconds trickled by, lunch fast approaching.

Finally, finally, the bell rang. Marinette gathered up her things calmly, but her hands were shaking violently. All of her nervous energy was staying there, allowing her to keep her face neutral as she walked down the stairs, then ducked under them.

There stood both Rose and Juleka, increasing Marinette’s worry tenfold. If it was both of them, something had to be wrong! What could have happened?

“Are- Are you guys okay? I mean, the, the note wasn’t very, um, specific? But if it’s both of you… Is something wrong? Are you in trouble or something?” Marinette asked quickly. Juleka blinked in response, eyes wide and a little confused. Rose looked between the two of them and chimed in for her.

“No, Marinetter! We’re not in trouble! We just wanted to say that-“

“We know you wrote ‘Forget Me Not’,” Juleka interrupted her. Marinette gasped. Her first guess had been correct, then.

“I, um, I don’t know what you’re aalking tabout! Wait, talting abouk! Talking about,” she managed. Her nervous stuttering gave away the truth, obviously, as Rose and Juleka looked at her with a mixture of disbelief and pity.

“Marinette, you don’t have to lie to us!” Rose chirped. Marinette froze at the word lie. That was what she had done. That was what she was doing by staying anonymous, wasn’t it? Lying to the world! She would get caught and everyone would think she was no better than Lila and then she would go to jail and she would never get to release another song or get a pet hamster named-

“Marinette,” Juleka said, a hand hovering over her arm but not touching her. “It’s okay. It’s fine, alright? Lying to protect your identity isn’t the same as regular lying.” She looked over Marinette, whose eyes were wide and wet and who was shaking a bit. “Are you… okay with physical contact right now?”

Just the question nearly made her break down crying. When was the last time someone had asked if it was okay for them to touch her? That was how people usually tried to ground her when she was spiralling, but did it even help, or did it just make her more nervous?

That didn’t matter right now. Because, right at this moment, a hug sounded perfect. She nodded wordlessly and Juleka and Rose hugged her, Juleka soothingly and Rose like she was afraid to let go. Marinette sniffled and smiled. This was the first friendly physical contact she’d had from someone who wasn’t family or a temporary hero since… ages ago. She couldn’t remember the last hug she’d gotten from someone who wasn’t her parents.

She slowly calmed down, and when she was finally ready to talk, she did. Juleka and Rose knew that Lila was lying, because it was clearly Marinette’s voice in the recording- they knew it from every time she sang along at Kitty Section practice, from every time she hummed a section to herself and suggested small changes (all of which improved the song).

They weren’t surprised Ivan didn’t recognize her, given both that it was a pop song, which wasn’t his genre, and that playing drums and listening to loud heavy metal had dulled his hearing. They weren’t surprised at the rest of the class, either. Most of them had never heard Marinette sing, so it wasn’t likely they would recognize her singing voice first try, and by the second pass, Lila had gotten to them.

They were a little surprised Mylene hadn’t recognized her voice, but maybe the girl just hadn’t heard the song yet or had gone too long without hearing Marinette sing.

But Juleka and Rose knew Lila was lying, which meant Marinette didn’t have to be alone anymore! She told them everything and they, mercy of all mercies, believed her!

And then… they comforted her. They asked, again, and she said yes, again, and they hugged her close and told her it was okay. Told her everything would be alright.

Later, in class, they didn’t speak up when Lila lied. But they sent her sympathetic glances, which was more than Adrien had ever done, and after class they comforted her some more.

Marinette hadn’t known what to expect. But it certainly, certainly wasn’t this.


	3. Chapter 2- Bud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette gets another surprise. And another.

After school, Marinette waved goodbye to Juleka and Rose at the gate. They smiled at her as she started walking home, but the moment she turned around, she bumped into someone. She took a step back, already stammering out a dozen apologies, but the person simply laughed.

“It’s fine, Ma-ma-marinette. Are you okay?” asked Luka, smiling down at her. Marinette eeped.

“Um, yeah, I’m fine!!” She smiled nervously at him, and he laughed again, though not unkindly.

“Alright. If you say so.”

She huffed playfully. “Well, I do say so!” she responded. Luka grinned.

“Sure,” he answered, unbothered. Marinette laughed and elbowed him gently.

“Stop doing that! I’m telling Juleka you’re antagonizing me,” she said. It was clear she had no intention of actually doing so. Luka laughed with her.

“I’ll see you later, Ma-ma-marinette,” he said, waving as he left. Marinette waved, then turned around and headed home.

God. She felt better than she had in ages. Juleka and Rose were on her side, believed her over Lila! And talking to Luka had been the first casual, friendly conversation she’d had since.....

Since Lila got Alya.

Some of her friends had been quicker to believe Lila than others. Some of them fell for her almost instantly. But Alya had stood by her, had said that Lila might be misremembering details when she accused Marinette of things.

She’d tried so hard to believe both of them.

And then Lila discovered what she could do with a bit of makeup.

Faced with what looked like definitive proof, Alya finally believed Lila over Marinette. Finally left her side.

She knew it was Lila’s fault. She knew how bad it looked from an outside perspective. But it still hurt. And, she wouldn’t lie, she was a little bit mad at Alya. It didn’t make sense for her to be; Lila should have been the sole recipient of her anger over this, but... But Alya was her best friend. Was supposed to stand with her, have her back.

Alya was supposed to believe her.

She shook her head quietly. No point in dwelling on the past. Just like her crush on Adrien; it was over and done with, no two ways about it. It had been unhealthy, her behavior towards him, anyways. Getting over him was the right move for them both.

She decided to refocus. Think about her day, instead of past ones. Think about how she now had people who knew Lila was lying, people who were on her side.

It was nice.

She hummed to herself as she went up the stairs to her home, as she opened the door and toed off her shoes. She continued to hum as she walked into the apartment proper, looking down into her backpack as she began to open it.

When she looked up, her humming came to an abrupt stop.

“Hello, Marinette.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello followers. today i offer you a short chapter and a cliffhanger. tomorrow? who knows

**Author's Note:**

> follow us on tumblr at mar1garden for more! chapters go up there first, and you get bonus stuff like  
> -any art for this series  
> -recordings of the songs, probably at some point  
> -if you have questions, our ask box is always open!


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